TRANSVAAL

Currency: 12 Pence - 1 Shilling; 20 Shillings = 1 Pound

Note: on my website many of the pictures can not be seen! They are of course present in the cd's; contact me if you want to purchase them: .

The South African Republic (Z. Afr. Republiek), founded by the Boers in 1860, was occupied by the British in 1877 and the name of the country changed to Transvaal. The republic was restored in 1884 and re-occupied in 1900 to become the British crown colony of Transvaal. It joined the Union of South Africa in 1910. The capital is Pretoria.

Transvaal is a difficult field for stamp collectors. Many 'reprints' are circulating, some of them made with the help of the original printers.

Reprint of Otto (Mecklenburg, Germany), the printer of the stamps. However, the center of the 1 p, 6 p and 1 Sh has been re-engraved, the eagle's head is different.

(Reprint of Otto)

Several 'bogus' issues in various colours were printed on the request of some stamp dealers, example:

6 p brown bogus 'reprint'

The following cancels are to 'neat', they are probably forged:

Some primitive forgeries:

Note that the eagle's head is very strange and that the carriage is lower at the back than at the front in the above forgeries. This forgery is also described in 'The Spud Papers'. The cancel (straight lines) was never used in Transvaal, genuine stamps are cancelled with concentric rings with a number, or a normal date cancel.